Key function holder

What it is

A key function holder is a person approved by the Malta Gaming Authority to perform a key function in a licensed operator: for example the chief executive, or the heads of compliance, anti-money laundering, risk or finance. The Malta Financial Services Authority has its own equivalent for licensed financial firms, usually called approved persons, who must pass a fitness and properness assessment before they take the role.

Holding the role is personal. The approval attaches to you, in that role, at that firm.

Why it changes an exit

Your departure has a regulatory side that an ordinary exit does not:

• Notification. The employer must tell the regulator that you are leaving, and the regulator may ask why. What is said about you becomes part of the regulator’s file.
• Your next approval. When you are proposed for a role elsewhere, the regulator will see that history. A neutral, accurate account of your departure matters more than almost any other term.
• Cover. The firm needs someone in the role. Until a replacement is approved, it may need you, which gives you some say over timing.

What to agree

• the wording of the notification to the regulator, and the reason given for your departure;
• that the employer will answer any regulator questions consistently with that wording;
• the timing of your exit against the appointment and approval of your replacement;
• what you will do during any garden leave, since the function still has to be performed;
• an agreed internal and external announcement and reference that match what the regulator is told.

If the exit is contested, take advice before anything is sent to the regulator. Some statements are hard to correct once made.